Rescuing Rylie
by AWritersStory
Summary: Rylie is alone. No matter where she goes, everywhere the people just meet her with one thing: antipathy. That changes as she meets the Benedicts, the first people seemingly liking her. As her situation suddenly changes, she has to learn how to deal with this completely new support. But is she really a Savant like the Benedicts tell her? And how is this connected to everything else?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

I curled up, just tried to protect myself while they kicked me. It still hurt incredibly, every kick against my back or my shin...What had I done to them to deserve this? They didn´t talk anymore. A few minutes before they had insulted me, pushed and threatened me, but now I was just lying on the ground waiting for it to be over. Tears streamed down my face but I didn´t say a word, didn´t want to give them this satisfaction. It was terrible enough being someone´s victim again.

I heard engine noise. The others seemed to hear them too, because they disappeared as swift as they came, leaving me alone and injured lying on the ground. I tediously got up and immediatley wanted to lie down again - it just hurt so badly. But I had to get away from here. Didn´t want to get run over. Further tears streamed down my face as I trudged myself to the roadside. Motorcycles. They stopped, the drivers having seen me. _Please go on...don´t look at me..._ I thought. But life always seemed to have a strange kind of humour. One of them finally addressed me.

"Everything okay?" he asked. I only could nod. "Just..." I had to oppress a sob. "Just fell a little badly, everything´s okay." Why couldn´t I just stop crying? It was so embarrassing. But somehow it didn´t matter anymore. I got up fully. Walking was painful and standing was even worse, but I would survive. As the one who addressed me wanted to prop me up, I jumped back and promptly fell on the ground again. "Zed, call an ambulance." the man said. "No, please, it´s okay. Really." Limping I passed the three men, walking down the mountain road. I just wanted to go for a walk, but it never went like planned, did it? "I don´t believe you should just go on like that. You have to get this patched up." the oldest one of them said. "No, thank you, but it´s really okay." I didn´t believe I was very convincing, but to be honest I didn´t care. I just wanted to go home...but I had left it behind two weeks ago in England. Then just somewhere else, far away from these incredibly curious guys.

 _Keep her there a bit longer, I´m on the way!_

What was that? That voice? Where did it come from? Well, I just had to go on, step by step...dammit, it just hurt! And suddenly my inner strength collapsed, the pain gripping me completely by now. I didn´t care where I got or what happened to me. Nobody cared, everywhere I just was the victim, nobody would miss me. They should do whatever they wanted, at least they seemed to care, something completely new for me. I sat down on the ground and waited. Someone sat beside me, but I couldn´t see anything due to the tears. One of the others took my glasses and put them in his pocket.

"I´m Uriel, the other two are Trace and Zed. My brother´s on the way, he will patch this up for you, okay?" I nodded and sobbed, which lead to shifting my weight. It hurt and I started crying like a fountain. I was feeling sick, it should just stop finally, everything hurt, I wanted to go home. "I want to go home." I wasn´t able to say more. "You can go home soon, okay?" Uriel said. "But I don´t have one anymore..." I´ll never understand how they could understand anything through my sobs, but they did. Why? Why did this have to happen to me again and again and again? Somebody else arrived next to me. "Ouch, what did you do to get these?" Who was this? At least he seemed to have humour. "That´s our brother Xavier, he´ll help you." I didn´t trust these people. Careful I lifted my head and moaned as it hurt terribly. As Xavier wanted to touch me, I cringed. Nobody would just touch me so easily. "Hey, don´t be afraid, I really just wanna help you." But I couldn´t, I just couldn´t let him touch me. As I started crying again, Xavier took his chance and touched my face. It was pleasantly warm and somehow the pain really got better. Surprised I lifted my head again. "What...What are you doin`?" I asked. "Don´t worry, it´s okay." It was so warm since the pain was gone...and before I even could realize it I fell asleep.

I opened my eyes. Where was I? "Come on, the rest you´ll have to go by yourself." Trace told me, then put me down on my feet again. My circuit was really in a bad condition and I felt sick. I tumbled. Without further ado Trace proped me up, lead me up the way to the house. To get a little distracted from the pain I looked around me. It was warm, smelled pleasantly and everything was cleaned up. Dream house. The bath in the house was great, everything just was...great. Impressive. Different. I admired the atmosphere, the sorted chaos with all the things from so many different countries.

Xavier helped me out of my jacket and the shoes, then led me into the bathroom while Trace and Uriel went back to the people I could hear chatting in the living room. I was close to crying again. Cautious I sat down on the stool Xavier handed me. I didn´t really know what he was doing, but as he was done I felt better. And Xavier seemed to be very tired. Someone knocked on the door. Trace. "Do you wanna call your parents so they can pick you up?" For Christ´s sake, no! How should I explain this to them?

"No, thank you, I´ll just go now so it won´t be neccessary." "Oh please, come eat with us." A woman came in. Too many people in too little space. She looked nice, but I also could be wrong. I didn´t want all of this anymore... "I really just wanna get home..." I whispered. "Well, okay, then go call your parents sweetheart." I would never get used to those nicknames some english people tend to give. I just nodded tiredly and followed her to the phone. Thank god I already knew our new number. It took a while until someone picked up the phone. My motivation on going back sank with every second I had to wait. Because we had visited so many countries, we had a huge repertoire of languages we could communicate in, but as we originally came from Germany we mostly talked German.

"Hello?" It was so great hearing my mother´s voice... "Hey Mom, I got lost a bit and then fell so I´m a bit injured, but some people were there and they patched me up and stuff and they said I could eat with them, can I?" I heard her sigh. "I don´t like the thought of you being with complete strangers. Why are you even with them?" "Please, Mom! I think there are some kids from my new school." That trick clearly worked. "Well, I didn´t plan on cooking today so I think it´s okay. But be back in time!" "Of course. See you." She hung up, and I handed the phone back to the woman.

"What lie did you tell your parents?" I raised a brow. Who was that? The girl was just so pretty and looked so cute. "You just lied, although I couldn´t understand what you were saying." "I shall eat with you if it´s okay, my mother would be glad if she hadn´t had to do the cooking today." I answered. "Which language was that?" "German." "You come from Germany?" By God, who were all those people and why were they here? I nodded again. "Of course you can eat with us, doesn´t she Karla?" the sweet girl asked, speaking towards the kitchen where the woman had disappeared a few seconds ago. "Of course, come in! It´s nearly done." I wasn´t really hungry, just needed the time, but well, at least I could sit down.

I´ve never seen so many people sitting at one table. Somehow it seemed surreal, but I´ve lost the connection to reality anyways. "That´s Zed, our youngest, with his girlfriend, Sky. Over there we have Yves and Phoenix. You know Xavier already, right? Then we have Will, Victor, Uriel and Trace - did they introduce themselves already?" Karla explained. Wow, if I just got it right... the boys all were their children? I never had experienced such a big familiy. My own always had been very...contemplative.

"I´m Karla and that´s my husband Saul." They both seemed to be nice and worldly-wise, looking at each other with strong love. I put aside the things they remembered me of. "And what´s your name?"asked...who was this again? "Rylie." "Isn´t it a boy´s name?" "It´s possible for both sex." I tried the food. Not like at home, but still good. Everywhere there were some conversations. I felt really excluded. And as the conversation´s topic went towards me, I suddenly got very shy.

"What´s happened to you, Rylie?" I lowered my head. "Just fell down." "You don´t have to lie. You don´t get all these injuries just by falling, Rylie." Sky said. I shrugged. "Maybe I got beaten up a bit." I heard some of the guys swear, Karla admonishing them. "Obviously." Victor finally said. "You have to go to the police." Trace said. "That´s not neccessary. I couldn´t tell who´d done that." "You still can´t let them get away with this!" "Why?" "I´m sure you remember a few details that could help getting these..." he stopped as he saw his mothers` warning expression. "That´s just too much expense." "Just because of this attitude criminals often get away!" Why was he so mad about this? "They had their reasons." I said and went to the sink to clean my plate, but Karla got up immediatly. "No, sweetheart, you don´t have to do this, sit down please." I handed my plate to Karla. "I´m sorry, but I think I have to go home now. Thank you for your help and everything you did for me. Have a nice evening." And then I hurried to get away from this ridiculously vivid family.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hello :) Thank you for reading this!**

 **This is my first English fanfiction! The original is written by me, too - of course in my native language- so if you accidentially also visited the website where the original is published and thought 'Oh, I know this!' it may be because of the fact that I just translated my own story to make it accessable for more readers since the Joss Stirling community seems to be very small. Which is very sad, admittedly. Still, if you find this story elsewhere, please tell me to make sure nobody copied my ideas.**

 **So, I hope you liked this first chapter and will continue reading. Nevertheless, I love useful feedback, so if you have anything to add like any mistakes, things you don´t understand or any ideas of how you could imagine the story to go on, please don´t hesitate to tell me. I won´t bite, pinky promise! What do you think of Rylie by now?**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Finally at home, I really was in trouble because my clothes were beyond repair. "If you can´t act out yourself, we have to forbid these walks alone. You should be old enough to let you out alone without ruining your clothes, but you proved me wrong." Why my clothes? Why wasn´t it more important that everything hurt? Why didn´t they care at all? I concentrated on not having to cry, the angry words of my mother passing by. As I finally was alone in my room, I ran into my own bathroom, shut the door and cried. As my parents were asleep, I finally got out and went to sleep as well. I really was exhausted.

The following weeks went like usual. I did my best during the lessons and ignored my classmates and the free periods I spend in one of the music rooms. The piano there was great and I practiced a lot. When I didn´t know what to play anymore, I tried the drums. I knew the theory for ages but never had the possibility to try it out. I got better very fast, was able to play some rhythms after a few minutes. I had declared the encounter with the Benedicts as imagination a long time ago since I was used to losing my grip in reality, drifting off in some other worlds that were anything but real. I just sat at the drums as I realised the encounter with the Benedicts hadn´t been imagination at all when Zed and Sky entered the room. "Oh, you´re here? Then we´ll leave you." Sky said friendly. But I knew they both wanted me to go. "It´s okay, I´ll leave." I just wanted to vary the beat a bit…Well, I also could do that tomorrow. I put away the drumsticks and got up. "No, no, it´s okay. You play the drums?" Zed asked. "Not really, I just tried out a bit. And you?" I asked back cautiously. "Wow, didn´t sound bad just for trying out. Yes, I play the drums." I had used the time to pack my stuff. "Wow, cool, have fun." And then I hurried to get out of the room. "Hey, you don´t have to go." Sky grabbed my arm before I finally could get through the door. It felt…strange where she touched me. I got confused. Thank God she let go immediately. "No, really, I have to go eat a bit, have fun." And there I went.

But I needed these rituals, this daily routine, and having broken it really confused me and made the day feel weird. Everything got out of its rhythm. That´s why I wasn´t surprised seeing Sky and Zed waiting for me at my bike as I left school. I was just trudging myself there as I saw them, so I needed a few seconds to get what they wanted. To be exact, I got it in the moment Zed spoke to me. "Why did you run away before? We won´t bite, promise." Well, his appearance told other things. I just nodded and hefted my bag on my bike, then pulled on my helmet. Now I just wanted to go home and sleep off, that would be so nice. My thoughts were as fast as my Computer from 1995 I once possessed. But my operating system hadn´t failed yet. "Run away?" Again I needed a while to get what he meant. "Oh, no. Not ran away. Polite. I was polite and let you have the room." I murmured as I pushed the bike out on the street. "Ah, okay. But well, actually we just went there to talk to you." Sky said softly. I looked at her surprised. What could they want from me? "We just wanted to know if you really don´t want to report these guys. And how you are." How I was? "I´m fine." I always was. "And I really don´t wanna report them." I felt sick. I hadn´t drunk enough water today, I hadn´t eaten properly and I was increasingly tired, but in school I had tried my best like always. I felt completely run over and really just wanted to go home. "You sure?" Zed asked again. I got on my bike. "Sure." I drove home, leaving them standing there. After a while I got a bad conscience about it, but I told myself that wasn´t important. First I had to go home. Eat, drink and sleep.

My plans got crossed by my mother, who just handed me some rests of the meal the day before I really wasn´t able to eat. Then I had to help in the garden, build up the last furniture, shred moving boxes and so on. As I was finally done, I didn´t have the time to sleep anymore since my homework wanted to be done as well. I was hungry, but I would never get done if I started eating now. Although I really worked hard, I hadn´t finished until ten pm and food wasn´t available for me anymore. I just drank some water against my headache, read a book I soon had to give back to the library, chat with some people on the internet and then finally fell asleep at half past midnight over a book about vocational guidance.

The next day wasn´t much better, and I was longing for the weekend. Sometimes older classmates caught me, but it wasn´t as bad as it had been a few weeks ago. And I really got used to their stupid comments. I didn´t even care anymore why they did it, if they wanted they should do, I was broken already. My mother still made me work in the house, and during the week she mostly didn´t have the time to cook. My father got home late as always and I saw him rarely. My body felt light from hunger. I just didn´t eat enough, but I was too tired and felt too bad to eat anything of the stuff my mom produced. But then the weekend finally came. My mother wanted to go to some people she worked with, and because they had a daughter my age I had to go with her to make some contacts. This meant I had to get up incredibly early in the morning and couldn´t sleep off, and more importantly she would praise me like a product of highest quality and not like a human being. Still, I interpreted it as a compliment. Normally I wasn´t allowed to go with her when she visited clients. Duty of confidentiality and stuff. So I really got up early, did some household, eat as much as I could and then entered my mother´s car. The mountains looked wonderful, but this wasn´t my landscape. I missed the sea so incredibly much. After having driven a while, my mother stopped in front of a big old-looking house. It fit perfectly into the landscape. Who might live there? An absent-minded looking man opened the door. His long brown hair was bundled in a ponytail and on his jeans you could see marks from oil paints. I immediately decided he was sympathetic to me. "Hello, Mister Bright." My mother smiled. "We phoned already, right?" "Come in." Mister Bright had a friendly face, but he looked worried. I went after him and my mother into the kitchen. Still I recognised the piano in the living room and I really wanted to play. But first I followed my mother. "Oh hello, thank you for coming. I´m Sally and that´s Simon, my husband." Sally looked way more living and vivid than her husband. Her smile was sincere. Next to the two there stood a boy, maybe about my age. He was tall, thin, his face was lightly rounded but had some strict features, his brown eyes stupidly watching at my mother and his hair looked like he just got out of bed. I could understand him. I was tired as hell, too. The smile on his lips was weak and definitely fake. He looked like loneliness in person. "That´s Taiyo, our adoptive son." "Hello Taiyo." Definitely my mother, always friendly, with this fake polite smile in her face I hated the most.

"Hi." And that was typically boy, short and bare, just cool. "That´s my daughter, Rylie. I hoped your daughter could show her a little bit of the town." I heard steps from the floor. "Of course, I´d love to." Sky? Why was she…Oh no. She really seemed to be Taiyos adoptive sister. "Come along." She smiled and I followed her back to the wardrobe. "What do you want to see first?" she asked. I hesitated. I really didn´t want to do that. Sky seemed to see that. "Let´s just get up into my room and I´ll tell you a bit about everything. Come on." Sky´s room was beautiful. Turquoise walls, a little bit chaos, but not too much, way better than all rooms I ever had had. It really looked comfortable. Especially the bed - it looked so warm...I decided not to sit on it or I´d probably fall asleep. So only Sky sat on the bed and I sat on a chair. Not comfortable at all. "You look better" she said. I just nodded. Then I looked at her more detailed. She was friendly, but there was something she was worried about, too. The dark circles around her eyes were bigger than the last time, so she had to be as tired as I was. Her blue eyes seemed cloudy. I didn´t have the courage to say something. We weren´t friends. I wasn´t in the position to critisize something. She wouldn´t tell me something either. She didn´t have to since my mother wasn´t here to drink some cup of tea, but to help Sky´s brother. "Again...thank you." I said just to say...something. "Don´t mind." Sky smiled again. I involuntary asked myself how long she wanted to keep this faked smile. "My mother really is great in her job, you don´t need to worry so much about Taiyo." I finally told her. "Thanks." She changed the topic. We talked about the school, the city and everything that could help me getting along here. I was bored, I didn´t plan to integrate much here. The conversation was exhausting, but for my mother and because it was polite I listened to her and really tried my best. She could say a lot, but still told me this was the short version. I couldn´t believe her. This town really was too small to tell so much about it. But as I thought she´d just made things up now, she started talking about the Benedicts. Just as she started to explain the relationships between the family members in detail, I heard my mother come close to her room. I always recognised her steps. For me it mostly sounded hectic, aggressive, loud. Like a warning. "So...are the things here very expensive?" I asked as I heard her closing in. Sky looked at me surprised. "N-No...?" She knocked. Thank god. My mother came in. "Rylie, we´re leaving. Thank you Sky for helping her. You´ll see each other again on Monday in school. Goodbye." I got up. "Bye." I said and then turned around to follow my mother. During our way home we both stayed silent for a while.

"You got along well?" My mother finally asked. "Yeah, we talked a lot." I answered and put up a smile. "I´m glad. Now you have someone to talk to in school." "Yeah..." I didn´t mention I wasn´t in search for someone to talk to. "And she helped you, did she?" "Yeah, she was a great help." "That´s good." Silence again, which I used to play some game on my mobile phone. I nearly had enough coins to buy the avatar I desperately wanted. "How´s it been?" my father asked immediately after we got in. "It was fun and Sky really helped me out." I told him. "That´s nice!" I got out of my shoes, put them away, got out of my jacket and went into my room again. "Dinner´s at five pm!" my mother shouted after me just to go outside to smoke. I really hated to see her smoke, but I had stopped some years ago begging her not to do it. The rest of the day I spent on my computer or with a book, but mostly I learned for school. I also wanted to get some sleep, but I just couldn´t . Lunch wasn´t my favourite, but my dad´s so he didn´t grumble again. I wasn´t that enthusiastic about having to eat spaghetti bolognese the fifth time in two weeks. So I just ate until I didn´t want to anymore and then waited for my parents to finish. Maybe I really should try to learn how to cook, even against my mother´s will.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hello, it´s me again! I´m so amazed by all the views and reviews I got by now, that´s so crazy guys! I´d never expected so much feedback, thank you!**

 **Well, it takes me hours to translate even one chapter and since it´s really exhausting I double-check every chapter before I publish it here. Still, sometimes mistakes just slip through my control, so if you find anything, please tell me! What do you think, are the paragraphs okay like this, do you wish some more or some less? I always have problems reading on electronic devices so I don´t know how you think about it and if you need the paragraphs or not.**

 **I´ll try to upload chapters regularily, I don´t have much to do at the moment, but my story isn´t near to be finished yet, so I just translate while working at the original and well... I only have one brain and two hands...so I can´t do both at the same time. Additionally, I overworked the first chapter like five? times by now. Therefore I hope to be able to give you high-quality chapters that really are worth to be read and reviewed.**

 **Concerning the questions in the comments... you´ll have to read on and see ;)**

 **Have a nice week!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The rest of the weekend passed by uneventfully. I slept rarely since I was tortured by nightmares which made it hard to fall asleep afterwards. I also dreamt of Sky and this other family, but it were never good dreams. Together with my Mom I put away the last moving boxes and built up the last pieces of furniture because my Dad had to read some important papers for his work. After that I also helped a bit in the garden before I could go up to my room to do my homework. My room was the only place in the house where we had a complete chaos. But if it were clean like everything else here I would just feel so empty and alone that I couldn´t stand it. I had regular fights over that with my Mom but since I never had guests it was okay for her. Kind of funny how my Mom repaired other families and failed at her own. But you really get used to that. You can get used to everything over time.

As Monday school started again I was as tired as always. I didn´t know how long I could make it, this lack of eating, drinking and sleeping properly, of always being alone and doing my best. But I had no choice. This wasn´t even near to being over.

The days passed by endlessly slow, one day followed the other. Lessons, household, homework, learning, doing things on my own until I fell asleep on a school book. The first tests were written and given back. As I showed them to my parents they just said "Fine." and signed it. I didn´t know if you had to do that, but I didn´t say anything. I also didn´t mention I´d like to have some admiration for my hard work. I didn´t talk more than necessary. Nobody would listen. The next weekend passed by uneventfully as well. My mother worked, smoked and read and my father worked or sorted his stamps. I sat alone in my room. Wednesday I met Sky and Zed again. I wanted to get out of the room like the last time, but they didn´t let me. "No, please stay, we really want to talk to you." Together with their voices and their face expressions I got nervous. "What about?" "How´re you?" Zed asked. I was confused. Very confused. Nobody cared how I felt. We were complete strangers so why would they want to know? "I´m fine, why?" "You don´t look that good...I´m sorry but you really look k.o and you have really big marks under your eyes and you just look...exhausted." Sky answered. I didn´t know what to answer and mustered my shoes while shrugging my shoulders. Somehow I didn´t like this situation. They should leave me alone, what was their problem with me? "Sorry, we didn´t want you to feel uncomfortable. But I´m really worried..." "Why? I´m fine!" I tried to leave again, but they were still standing in my way. "Could you please leave me through?" I asked, my teeth grinding. "You sure you´re okay?" Zed asked again. "Yes. Could you please let me through now?" They both went aside so I grabbed my bag and ran outside.

Completely irritated I ran to the girl`s restroom, shut myself off in one of the cabins and started crying. I didn´t know why, didn´t know what suddenly went wrong that I had to cry, but I cried and and cried and cried. I tried to be as quiet as possible since from time to time some other girls entered. Sky didn´t come after me. And I´d really be surprised to see Zed here. As the break was over I cleaned my face and went back to lesson as if nothing ever happened.

The rest of the week Sky and Zed kept out of my way and I finally breathed relieved. These people were scary. Strangers showing interest in someone who didn´t matter for everyone else mostly didn´t have that nice plans. But as I looked at my mobile phone friday afternoon I saw a message from my mother.

 _Hey darling, I can´t pick you up as I promised. Please go to Sky, I´ll pick you up there after I´ve finished here._

Inside I was breaking down. Today was the only day ever I didn´t take the bike since my mother told me she´d pick me up by car. And now she broke her promise and I had to walk. Because I didn´t want to meet Sky again. I just started my way home as I heard someone call my name. Sky.

I walked on as if I hadn´t heard a thing, but she caught up to me very fast. "Hey." Her smile looked honest, and she was beautiful. So natural, completely herself. Even though she seemed to be exhausted and worried she still looked...good. I became envious. She had a boyfriend, a nice family that cared about her, a lot of friends, good marks and additionally looked beautiful without having to put any effort into it. Sure, my mother worked for her family for a reason but still... It was unfair. My mood sank a little bit more.

"You already now the news?" Did I have to answer? "Nice, then come with me." "Where?" I decided to play dumb. "At my house. Your mother just called mine and told her to come with us since you don´t have a key." Damn. The key. My father wasn´t home for sure. Even if I walked, without a key I wouldn´t get in. "You know how long it´ll take her?" I asked Sky why walking behind her. "No." She opened the back door, then entered on the front. I finally surrendered to my fate and put on the seat belt. I wasn´t surprised to see Zed driving. The two simply were stuck together, you couldn´t meet the one without the other. This was just the fact.

"Is it okay if we eat at my house? My mother prepared something for us and Sky´s parents are still at their atelier." Zed proposed. "If my mother knows it...I´m okay with it." I answered before looking at my mobile again. Just a few hundred coins...maybe I could charge it when I was at their house. I always had the cable with me. After lunch I could start with my homework, but I still had time. To be safe I first called my mother to tell her we were going to Zed. She didn´t pick up the call, so I sent her a message. Then I ignored the silence in the car and played the game on my mobile.

"I´m sorry you´re practically having to babysit me." I excused with a wry smile as we all sorted our shoes and jackets. "Don´t worry. Now we finally get to talk to you." That was exactly what I needed right now...

 _Xav? She´s here._

Where did this goddamn voice come again? Until now I thought I was at least mentally healthy. "Ah, there you are. Come in! Nice to see you again, Rylie!" Karla´s smile lightened up the whole room and since I didn´t want to ruin the atmosphere I tried to smile back. "Come in, come in, lunch will be ready soon! Sky, Rylie, sit down, Zed, hand me a bowl! Where´s Xav?" "I´m here, Mum!" This house was so full of life it took me a lot of energy to take it. I was way too tired.

Somehow I survived the meal. Since Karla asked me if it didn´t taste good because I ate so few I lied and told her I had already eaten in school and wasn´t hungry. Everyone accepted my excuse. In truth I simply didn´t want to eat so much. During the last weeks I had lost so much weight and gaining weight again after having suffered so much to lose it would be a catastrophe. But after lunch - I sat on the sofa where my mobile recharged- all attendant Benedict family members sat down in the living room.

Yves, Xavier and Will had holidays and Zed still went to school. Sky was the only girl, I didn´t know where Phoenix was. They were definitely too many people in one room, especially when so many of them were boys, but I didn´t show anything.

 _Her energy level is alarmingly low._

Why could I hear Yves` voice in my head?

 _How can she still be able to stand on her two feet?_

I had to stop hoping. This was reality, these people neither could see how I felt nor were they worried about me. And for sure they didn´t pity me like I seemed to want if I could believe the voices in my head.

 _Can´t we just tell her?_

Tell me what?

 _We all realise she´s different._

Damn, I was too distracted, I would never get the coins like this.

 _But what if she doesn´t know? We also knew it with Taiyo but he didn´t._

Something really had to be wrong with me... the more I heard the more desperate I got.

"Listen, Rylie..." Sky finally broke the silence. I still stared down on my mobile, trying to concentrate. But suddenly it was... gone. I stared at Xavier angrily. "Listen to her." This couldn´t be true. "Give back my mobile!" "Listen!" "Not before you don´t give back my mobile!" I didn´t dare to grab after it, I simply had too much respect for him, I couldn´t even look him in the face. Suddenly Zed grabbed my shoulders. It hurt. "Look at me, damn!"

I was so surprised I really did what he said, but not without letting my view blurr empty. "Stop hurting yourself! We really are worried about you, no matter if you believe it or not! Just be good to yourself and get reasonable, please! You´re destroying yourself, even a blind person would see you´re not well!" There only was one possible answer. "I´m fine. It´s nice that you´re worried, but everything´s okay." I realised the grip on my shoulders disappeared. "Can I please get back my mobile?" I asked toneless.

They were worried about me... were they honest? But why else would they say such things? Why would I be of interest for them? I was pretty sure they didn´t want to copy my homework like everybody else, everyone knew I handed them voluntarily. They didn´t had a reason for saying things like this unless they really were worried. My thoughts raced. Impossible that they should worry about me, nobody cared about me, it had always been like this.

"You´re fine? Are you kidding me? Have you ever looked into the mirror? You looke like a goddamn zombie!" Zed snarled. Not only that he confused me, now he even told me I was ugly. Well, he was right. "I´m fine, really. Please, can I have back my mobile?" I tried again. "What´s your weight? I´m sure it´s not enough." Xavier started again. Firstly I hated to get their full attention and secondly I really was annoyed that they just couldn´t stop it. I got up. "My mobile, please. I´m sick of this game, I´ll go." "First, you didn´t answer my question, second no and third you can´t go home." "Who said I was going home?" "Where else do you wanna go?" "Let her, we don´t have a chance." Zed finally said. Xavier handed me my mobile without any further ado.

 _We can´t let her go now!_

Sky again.

 _We won´t._ Yves.

"Thanks." I said and continued the game. Shortly before I had a new High Score my mother called. Her timing really sucked. I picked up the call. "Mum?" "Hey, darling, I´m finished, where shall I get you?" I told her the address, then hang up. "My mother´s coming." I informed them, then I got up and packed my stuff. "You can come here if there´s something up, okay?" Sky offered. I nodded. The next minutes passed by in silence until my mother finally showed up. I told them goodbye and left.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hello...**

 **It´s me.  
** **I was wondering if after all these days you liked to read  
** **a new chapter... about Rylie... :'D**

 **Did you recognise the song I tried to rewrite? x'D  
** **Well, so what do you think about Rylie in this chapter? And about the Benedicts? I was really insecure about whether they are acting out of their role or not so I´d love to get feedback concering the characters by now!**

 **Still, any feedback I get is adorable since it means you really read my story and thought about it. I don´t expect much readers in such a small fandom but since you´ve overthrown my expectations right with the first chapter I´m curious if it´ll continue like this.**

 **I wish you all a nice week! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The next days I pondered about what I had heard from the Benedicts. While avoiding them successfully I decided to not take it serious and forget about it. But exactly one week later Sky and Zed waited for me by my bike again. To be exact they blocked my way to it. I had to talk to them or I wouldn´t get home. To get home without my bike would be a very bad idea.

"Hey. Could you please let me through?" Damn, I just didn´t want this. "Only if you tell us why you´re avoiding us." Sky looked offended. Why would she feel hurt? We didn´t know each other very well, I didn´t really like her and I didn´t want her to be here. "I just don´t have to talk to you." I shrugged my shoulders. "What did you eat today?" Zed asked. I was close to crying. "Can I please get to my bicicle?"

"Zed...not when everyone´s watching." Sky murmured. Zed made one step aside and I hastily searched my bag for the key. "Look... we´d like to talk to you. In a more quiet environment. It´d be nice if we could meet up at the weekend." "Sorry, I don´t have time." "What´s there?" "I´ve got stuff to do." "Can´t you do this with us? Please? It´s really important." "I´ll see." I shifted my bike on the road and hopped on. "See you."

The following days they didn´t bother me anymore. They only called my mother to ask whether it was okay if I spent the saturday with them. I felt like six and not sixteen. To my disappointment this led to my mother waking me up early in the morning on a saturday again so she could bring me to the Benedicts. I was tired since I had worked on a book about career guidance until late at night. In the car I closed my eyes and slept a while so I needed a few seconds to recognise my environment again. And suddenly I found myself on the Benedict´s couch.

Karla handed us a gigantic bowl with apple pieces, then she disappeared. Yves sighed, then started. "You know what a Savant is?" "Yes." "You know you are one?" "I neither have a savant syndrome nor an autistic disorder nor am I retarded in any other way." "So you don´t know it..." he sighed and started explaining. "Everyone here in the house is a Savant. We all have special abilities. Zed likes to describe it with an additional gear in a car, which makes us faster and better than others." "I´m not a highflier or something."

 _You know we don´t mean that._

Zed´s voice in my head. "I really don´t get what you mean." "Your abilities make you a Savant. Zed can see the future, Sky can see feelings, Xav´s a healer, Will can sense danger and I´m good with energy." "I´m not..." In Yves` hand I could see a fireball. Oddly enough I wasn´t scared, I even stretched my hand towards it. I was so cold.

"Ey Sky, I´m outta here, don´t tell Sally." The fireball disappeared. "Taiyo, where´re you going?" "Not your business." I saw blood, screams, faces. Then it was over. "Wait, Taiyo, come here for a moment."

 _It could get interesting. She could be your soulfinder._

A door got slammed. Sky got up. "I go after him. Zed, take this on." And there she left. "Sky..." But she already was out.

 _Please let him, nothing will happen to him, we need you here_.

I was so annoyed. Why couldn´t my head show me reality and only reality? Why did he always have to make something up? A few secons later Sky got back. "You can hear us, you have to admit that." Will said calmly. "Of course, I´m not deaf." This all couldn´t be true.

 _You know what I mean._

I watched the clock. Why had I to be here? I decided to ignore them all, laid down on the sofa and tried to sleep. Finally they were quiet. But my body didn´t seem to like it. Everything rotated. I turned to the other side after a while, but it only got worse. At some point I really felt sick, started to breathe faster without any way out. I knew the others saw it as they watched me attentive. I hated my weak body and I hated being observed like an animal in the zoo.

 _Put up your legs._

I wouldn´t make a fool of me. Then I´d rather sit. Everything rotated again.

 _She´s ignoring us._

Wills voice. They should stop. Everything should stop. I didn´t want this.

 _She´ll pass out..._

I decided to get up. "Sorry, you seem to have got something wrong. As I said, I still got things to do." I took out my mobile phone and wanted to call my mother, but as I wanted to press the green button it disappeared out of my hand again. I saw it hanging in the air. "That´s not funny." I snarled. "Give it back, Xavier."

 _How do you know this is me?_

His voice again. Very good question. But I didn´t want to cope with it or with the fact that I wasn´t surprised about seeing my phone hanging in the air. "Give it back!"

 _How can she be able to stand? Her energy´s completely low! Xav, how´s this possible?_

 _Dunno. I guess it works because it has to._

"Give me my phone!" I screamed and jumped for it, but I didn´t have a chance.

 _Where are you, we´re going to eat!_

I wanted to go to the house phone, but Zed grabbed my shoulder. I winced. "Let go." Nobody touched my out of nowhere. The Benedicts had violated that rule way too often by now. "Please set down. We just say what we want to say and then you may go." Sky plead. I sat down grudging. "So I´ll propose something. You eat something and then take a rest. Therefore we won´t bother you with this Savant-thing."

 _You forgot why we brought her over, Xav?!_

That was Zed. In this house I was getting insane. "I ate at home. I can relax later. But I have to go now, I´ve got to do." "It´s weekend." "So what?" "And you lie in terms of your last meal." Sky added. "Sky can see lies, so don´t even try." Will said calmly again. "I´m not hungry." "Lie, too." "It´s not." I replied and gave them the evils. "I don´t need Xav´s abilities to see you don´t feel well! You´re completely pale!" "It´s winter!" I looked at the clock. Quarter eleven.

"You said if I listen I can go. So, is that all?" "You forgot the deal." "I don´t take part." "Well, then let´s talk about the Savant-thing again." "I renounce."

 _Everybody in this house is one. You are one. That´s why you can hear us in your head._

Somewhere deep in my head it made click. I saw a lot of pictures rushing through my head. Maybe I wasn´t insane? Maybe my head hadn´t made this up? These voices weren´t just some irrational wishes but real? Could this be true? I felt sick and my breath fastened again. "Will, Xavier, Yves and Zed Benedict, why´s the table empty? And where is Taiyo?" In all the hectic I wanted to grab for my phone but it got away.

 _Don´t forget the deal._

This was insane. "Xavier, give back the phone. Really, I don´t look for a few minutes and you treat her like this. You want something from her, not the other way round. Be friendly." Karla scold them. "I told you without Phoenix this wouldn´t end well." Sky looked down shamefaced. "Well, Rylie won´t run away." Karla said and smiled. I wasn´t sure about that..."Sit down, sit down sweetheart."

In the kitchen the dishes flew through the air but I wasn´t surprised at all. It smelled nice but I got sick from the smell of food. "You have to eat something." Xavier told me quietly and sat down next to me. I was happy he talked normally to me and didn´t push me further. "I´m not hungry." "You are, you just don´t recognise it anymore. When did you eat the last time?" "Yesterday." She isn´t lying. "When?" "Lunch?" "Poor child, you have to eat if you want to grow!" Karla scold me and handed me an extra serving. I hated when people picked on my height. It could be very useful sometimes and I had had to learn how to live with it. People remembering me of its disadvantages wasn´t what I needed. Usually I liked Bolognese, but today I just didn´t want to eat. "Please, just eat as much as you like." Yves whispered. Tiredly I picked in the food on my plate. Chewing was exhausting.

"What did you do the whole night if you´re this tired today?" Sky asked. I was relieved they didn´t bother me anymore. "I read." "What do you read at the moment?" Sky wanted to know honestly. "This and that." I evaded. Sky sighed. "School stuff?" Why did she let it sound as if it was a crime? I nodded and bent my head. "Doesn´t it taste good?" Karla asked worried. "No, it´s good." That was the truth. "I´m simply not hungry." Evil looks from everywhere. I realised Taiyo still was missing. "I´ll eat." I sighed. The next minutes passed by slowly. Nobody said something and it took me a while to eat. After a few bites I didn´t feel hungry anymore at all, but I couldn´t say if it wasn´t the opposite. It made me feel sick, but I realised I couldn´t stop eating yet. I needed half an hour to eat and I felt fat before everyone seemed to be content. I got even more tired, so while the others cleaned the table I lied down again.

The door opened. Taiyo entered the door, completely wet and muddy. I heard the screams. I saw blood, so much blood. The smell of iron...and then I felt all the pain behind it. Run. It smelled like Taiyo. I was awake immediately. He turned after me, then left the room and I got tired again. I only heard the others entering the room, then I fell asleep.

 _I bet this was Taiyo._

 _She was completely exhausted, this hasn´t anything to do with Taiyo._

 _I don´t like how he´s distancing himself from everything._

 _Let him, he´s gone through a lot._

I couldn´t differenciate who was talking.

 _So she can accept flying phones but not the rest?_

 _Maybe she represses it. Something´s on with her, she´s always alone._

"Stop talking about me." I murmured angrily. "I knew you hear us!" I heard Sky scream happily. "Of course, I´m not deaf."

 _Guys, she´s awake! And she can hear us!_

I opened my eyes. Only Sky sat there, a book in her hands. "Where are the others?" I asked confused. "Will and Yves are skiing, I don´t know where Xav is at the moment." "But... I heard them." "Yes. In your head." She smiled brightly and typed against her forehead. I didn´t understand anything. "You´re a Savant." "Savant." I echoed. Nothing made sense.

I grabbed for my mobile phone which layed on the table. "Savant syndrome, also known as autistic savant." I read the definition from wikipedia. "A person with a developmental disability demonstrates profound and prodigious capacities or abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal." I cited further. "How did you call my girl?" Zed growled. "You call yourself like that." A look at the watch told me it was half past two. I had slept way too long. "I have to make a call, sorry." I explained and searched for my mother´s number. "You don´t really wanna go yet?" Sky looked sad. "I´ve got to do." "That´s not true."

 _I don´t see her colours anymore. Her voice is...unvoiced. Something´s wrong with her._

I didn´t want that, didn´t want their care, they should let me go. "I don´t wanna be here anymore." That was the truth. I wanted to press the green button but suddenly felt sick. My hands felt too weak to hold my phone anymore. With a loud bang it dropped on the floor. "Rylie?" "Oops." I commented the situation and stared at the phone. "It fell." Speaking was bad as well. I had to get this okay, but I doubted I could stand. I had to put up my legs. At home this happened often, but not here. I really didn´t want to make a fool of me.

 _Xav, where are you?_

Maybe I was lucky I thought and tried to get up. Bad idea, my legs gave up hold.

 _She needs some air._

 _I doubt she´ll get that far..._

 _Put her legs up!_

"No. I´ll go outside." I wanted to grab my phone, and then everything went black. Game over.

* * *

 **I´m so sorry I wasn´t able to upload a new chapter! I´m just stuck with the story and needed a complete break from it to get some new ideas, that´s why I didn´t translate it for a while now, too. But now I´m back and will upload a chapter as soon as I have the time!**

 **So what do you think of Rylie now?**

 **Llamacorn: Well, I also thought Zed would hate everything and everyone, but I don´t know, have you read Zed´s Story? There he says that before he was so hateful about everything because he saw so much cruelty in the world due to his gift, but finding Sky was like lightning up his world. Of course finding your soulfinder won´t change your whole character but I thought it was enough to make him kinda nice to others, especially with Sky around. I still will keep your opinion in mind!**


End file.
